Environmental Factor, August 2010, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Profiling NIEHS Recovery Act Success Stories

By Ed Kang August 2010

Vicki Kuo, an undergraduate student, and Dalei Wu, Ph.D., a post-graduate researcher, are part of Christoph Vogel's lab(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/stories.cfm#vogel) at the University of California, Davis studying the effects of environmental toxicants on cells of the immune system.
(Photo courtesy of Christoph Vogel)

In the Salinas Valley of California, hundreds of farm workers and their children have been evaluated to determine the effects of pesticides on health. With a Recovery Act grant, Kim Harley (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/harley.cfm), Ph.D., has been able to repurpose the vast collection of data for a study on bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical widely used in the plastics industry.
(Photo courtesy of Kim Harley)

High school students from Montana and Idaho show off their research projects, which examined indoor air quality issues in rural communities. In a podcast (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/ward.cfm), Tony Ward, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Montana Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS), and others discuss education efforts in rural areas that contribute to the prevention of respiratory diseases such as asthma and lung cancer.
(Photo courtesy of Tony Ward)

Lisa Satterwhite (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/satterwhite.cfm), Ph.D., is creating a strain of tiny zebra fish that act like a bioluminescent signal flare, flashing in the presence of dangerous toxic chemicals.
(Photo courtesy of Lisa Satterwhite)

The influx of resources to the U.S. economy by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 has enabled some of the nation's best scientists to accelerate critical environmental health research - all while creating jobs in communities across the country. Recipients of NIEHS Recovery Act funding have been able to develop new, or expand existing, research capabilities. Their success stories are featured on the NIEHS Web site (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery) and demonstrate a wide diversity of scientific and economic impacts.

ARRA provided $787 billion to help stimulate the U.S. economy. As part of the effort, NIEHS awarded nearly 350 grants to more than 150 U.S. institutions in 42 states. About $114 million went to support new two-year research projects, while close to $50 million went to support existing research. NIEHS also invested $1.1 million to support summer research positions for students and teachers.

(Ed Kang is a public affairs specialist in the Office of Communications and Public Liaison and a regular contributor to the Environmental Factor.)

Shown, left to right, research technician Bernardine Frankel, graduate student Rebecca Replogle, and research technician Kristen Wilde are part of the Purdue team (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/stories.cfm#fleet) studying nutrition and genetic variation.
(Photo courtesy of Fleet Lab at Purdue University)

Libby, Mont., is an isolated town in the northwestern corner of the state. In a podcast (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/black.cfm), Brad Black, M.D., director of the Center for Asbestos Related Disease (CARD), talks about the place he lives and works - where 70 years of vermiculite mining has led to asbestos exposure in generations of the town's residents.
(Photo courtesy of Brad Black and CARD)

The International Chemical Workers Union Council Center (ICWUC) is working with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists to deliver training (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/stories.cfm#morawetz) to unemployed or underemployed people in disadvantaged communities. Upon completion of the training, 135 workers, such as the young men in Oakland, Calif. shown above, will be placed into remediation and green jobs.
(Photo courtesy of ICWUC)

Jocelyn Biagini Myers (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/success/stories.cfm#lemasters), Ph.D., is a post-doctoral research associate at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center researching pediatric asthma.
(Photo courtesy of the University of Cincinnati)

The Environmental Factor is produced monthly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/), Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The text is not copyrighted, and it can be reprinted without permission. If you use parts of Environmental Factor in your publication, we ask that you provide us with a copy for our records. We welcome your comments and suggestions. (bruskec@niehs.nih.gov)